The World Bank Group’s Agriculture Global Practice WBG-Netherlands Partnership “Food for All” is organizing a series of Food for All Talks. During the second Talk, which focuses on Agriculture – Food – Bio Sciences, Louise Fresco meets Shenggen Fan. The event takes place on Friday March 24, 2017 (11:00 – 12:30 AM EST in Washington DC || 16:00 – 17:30 pm CET in Netherlands) and can also be attended globally through WebEx (see below for details). 

In this edition of the Food for All Talks Juergen Voegele will interview Louise Fresco (President Wageningen University and Research) and Shenggen Fan (Director-General IFPRI) on the very fast developments in science, both through public and private sector research, and its impact on our agriculture and food systems. Emerging technologies and innovations, particularly in bio and food sciences are already outpacing the ability of society to understand and deal with them and can considerably impact the way food is produced, where it is produced and hence the future of agriculture and trade.

Food systems will be dramatically influenced by this new era and the new tools it offers, including bio-innovation, gene editing, robotics, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning. These innovations will continue to create unprecedented amounts of data creating the potential for further exponential developments and personalized services. But they will also test society and governance.

Could they impact development outcomes even within the 2030 SDG timeframe? Will they affect connectivity within countries and across countries? What can we expect in terms of differentiated impact around the world? There are bound to be winners and losers. What could it mean for smallholder agriculture, livestock systems and rural poverty reduction? And for resource use and land use pressures? What could it mean for nutrition outcomes in poor urban and rural communities? And can we expect gender differentiated impact? Is it a way out for the considerable climate change impact of agriculture, land use and food systems? Are there do’s and don’ts for governance to be resilient in facing these developments?

How to join

Join Using WebEx: Meeting password: mVKNghm3, Meeting number: 733 678 144.

Join Using Phone: Toll: 1-650-479-3207, Access code: 733 678 144

By Video Conference: 55791008@worldbank.org, External IP: 192.86.102.202, internal dial-in number 55791008

Background information

Louise Fresco, President Wageningen University & Research, a globally leading university in the domain of agriculture, food and life sciences. Among many other positions prof. Fresco also serves on the boards of Unilever and the Royal Concert Gebouw Orchestra, she is member of science Academies in the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and France. Member of the Council of Advisors of the World Food Prize, author of popular books on food culture and science and of a fortnightly column in a leading Dutch newspaper. Earlier she served for more than 6 years as Assistant DG at FAO was professor for international sustainable development at Amsterdam University and professor of plant sciences at WageningenUR.

Shenggen Fan, Director General at the International Food Policy Research institute in Washington since 2009. He conducted extensive research on pro-poor development strategies in Africa, Asia and the Middle-East and was previously head of IFPRI’s Development Strategy and Governance Division. He is a Champion of Target 12.3 of the SDG agenda, dedicated toward cutting global food loss and waste. He serves as a member of the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement appointed by UNSG Ban Ki Moon and is a respected advisor of many national governments.

Food for All Talks

The Food for All Talks is a series initiated by the Food for All Partnership of the World Bank Group and the Netherlands. They deliver new insights on strategic issues and operational questions around agriculture and food value chains for the WBG. For more information, visit the Food for All webpage.